Education & Workforce Video

Connecticut. Dream It. Do It.

Experience Manufacturing. Make It Your Future.

Connecticut. Dream It. Do It. (CTDIDI) is one of more than 40 state efforts focused on developing an awareness of rewarding careers in manufacturing. CCAT licenses and leads CTDIDI as part of The National Association of Manufacturers and The Manufacturing Institute’s nationwide campaign to create a positive image of today’s manufacturing.

Through partnerships with industry, education, and economic and workforce development organizations statewide, CTDIDI is enhancing Connecticut’s future manufacturing workforce pipeline.

Student workshops

CTDIDI’s student programs introduce future careers in manufacturing while reinforcing the skills needed to be successful in these careers. Content areas include lean manufacturing, CADD and 3D printing, automation and robotics, CNC machining, engineering design, and SolidWorks. CCAT can host these workshops at our facility or bring them to you.

STEM expos and career fairs

CTDIDI supports a wide variety of industry and school career events, as well as providing programming for other STEM-focused organizations. We can provide student and educator workshops, presentations, booth displays, and collateral materials to promote manufacturing-related careers.

Manufacturing Mania

Held in October of each year, “Manufacturing Mania” gives middle school students an opportunity to learn more about the wide variety of careers today’s advanced manufacturing offers. The program includes exhibits and displays from manufacturers and educational institutions, demonstrations, hands-on workshops, competitions, and guest speakers.

Making It Real: Girls & Manufacturing Summit

Open to middle and high school girls, Making It Real is a day-long event that provides information about career and educational pathways in manufacturing, experiential activities that showcase today’s manufacturing workplace, and opportunities to hear from women practitioners about 21st century manufacturing careers and the high-tech skills needed to be successful.

Count on CCAT

Contact us today for more information about Connecticut. Dream It. Do It. and learn how you can get involved.

Management

AMEP has provided us with resources that we would otherwise have not been able to access. The interaction and awareness that comes from these meetings has had a huge impact on our company’s ability to hire talent.

David Parmelee,President, Wepco Plastics

Under the direction of CCAT, in a few short years Connecticut. Dream It. Do It. has taken on a leadership role, partnering with us to win a national grant from the Motorola Solutions Foundation and serving as a model for Dream It. Do It. programs across the country.

Jennifer McNelly, Executive Director, The Manufacturing Institute

Creating really great, hands-on activities takes time, so much more time than many teachers ever get. Kids like hands-on activities, and CCAT's activities are well thought out.

Laura Barbash,Science Teacher, Illing Middle School, Manchester

CCAT has helped to address critical workforce development issues through the Advanced Manufacturing Employer Partnership (AMEP) . They have designed programs to assist manufacturers in the hiring of lower skilled job seekers and have implemented a wage subsidy program to mitigate employer costs associated with on-the-job training. This type of program is critical to building the manufacturing talent pipeline for our industry’s future.

Mark DiLorenzo,President, Phoenix Manufacturing

That's one of the great things about the program... there is a seamless integration; the teachers can put these pieces in the curriculum as they see fit. To excite veteran teachers tells me right away that this program is something of worth. They (CCAT) are good judges of what is good curriculum for our kids.

CCAT has provided significant leadership in supporting the Advanced Manufacturing Employer Partnership (AMEP), a network of employers, education and service providers and the public workforce investment system. As a result, CCAT is able to connect job seekers with the education, training and support needed to get, and advance, in jobs and keep our employers connected.

CCAT has been training our middle school teachers to support NGSS-type teaching for the past several years. For anyone considering a set of materials that will provide teachers with activities to support students constructing their own knowledge so as to better understand natural phenomena, CCAT provides wonderful as well as useful hands-on and computer-based resources. I highly recommend that you consider adding their expertise to your school district’s resource pool.

I just wanted to send a quick note letting you know how much Chloe is enjoying the manufacturing camp! She has been talking non stop about the leaders, coding, the field trip, etc. Thank you for creating such a unique and fun educational experience for these kids!

Valerie Scheer,

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